Hi friends! Adrianne here with you today to share how to make glass tile necklaces with your favorite scrapbook papers and small dies, so you can design your own custom jewelry for yourself and for gift-giving!

Step 1. Cut your base papers to 1″ square. Die-cut your shape and letter accents from silver foil card stock, and lay them out to determine the arrangement. For intricate designs, or designs that need to line up (like numbers and initials), you can also use a thin layer of Mod Podge to glue them into place to be sure they don’t slip around.

Step 2. Add a large drop of Mod Podge to the top of your paper square. Place the glass tile on top, pressing the Mod Podge all the way out to each edge of the tile for a secure mount.

Step 3. Use a craft squeegee on the backside of the tile, over the paper, to squeeze out the excess Mod Podge and ensure a tight seal. This can get a little bit messy, and you may get Mod Podge on the edges of your glass tile – but don’t worry! Wipe away any large drops, but a thin coat of Mod Podge can be easily cleaned off the tile once it’s dry.

Add a finishing coat of Mod Podge to the backside of the paper to seal it well.

Step 4. Allow the tile to dry (this may take an hour, as the card stock is quite thick). Then, add a drop of metal glue to the pad of a jewelry bail, and glue it to the backside of the tile. Allow the bails to dry for several hours (or overnight).

Step 5. If you are using bulk chain like I did, you’ll need to add a clasp to the chain before you’re able to wear the necklace. (If you’re using a pre-assembled chain, you can skip this step and simply string the tiles on the chains.) Twist open a jump ring, and attach both the end of the chain, and the ring of the clasp to it. Twist it closed again with your pliers. On the opposite end of the chain, attach a jump ring so that you can clasp the necklace closed.

Step 6. Finally, just string the tiles onto chains, and they’re ready for wear or for gift-giving! They’re great personal pieces that can sport initials, player numbers, or pretty spring themes like butterflies. Any small shapes are pretty encased in glass for this project!

Hey friends! Adrianne here with you today, and I’m so happy that spring has sprung! I have to confess, I really love spring decor. The brighter colors, the birds and butterflies – it’s all so refreshing! Today, I’m going to show you how to make butterfly specimen art from paper. You can make your butterflies as realistic as you like, or you can make them up in colors you love to match your decor.

There are lots of butterfly dies out there that work with the manual cutting machines, so you can customize your butterflies in any way you like! You will need a shadow box frame and a few different shapes of dies to create a natural-looking collection (especially if you’re opting for non-traditional colors).

Step 3. Glue the colored wings onto the black die cuts with glue dots to assemble them, and if it suits your style, use alcohol ink markers in black or gray to add detail to the wings like I did. I also added flat-backed self adhesive pearls for the heads.

Step 4. To give the paper butterflies a nice mounted look, I added a piece of 5×7 burlap-print paper to the shadow box, gluing it in place. Don’t have burlap paper? I didn’t either! To make my own, I laid burlap on my scanner, and printed the image onto regular office paper! Worked like a charm! You could do the same with linen or canvas as well!

Step 5. Finally, use glue dots or foam stickers to “mount” your butterflies in place within the shadow box. Pinch the wings to give them a 3-D look, as though they’re really mounted! I realize there aren’t many (if any?) pink butterflies out there, but that’s what makes this project so great. I was able to create exactly the look I wanted, in soft, muted, somewhat rustic hues.

Finally, display your artwork! The shadow box can be added to your spring mantel or to a vignette display in your home, or hung on the wall in a small space.

I hung mine in my studio to display both my love of paper and of nature!

It is amazing that this layout is all cardstock!!! Who needs patterned paper? The cut out butterfly from the Jenni Bowlin Core Impressions Vintage Brights line is the perfect accent to the punched butterflies along the page. Just a great example of how you can use your Core’dinations cardstock as is and sanded in one, beautiful layout.